SAN ANTONIO — One of San Antonio's largest area hospitals is preparing to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to five-years-old.
This is one of the last remaining age groups becoming eligible to get the shot, and doctors are encouraging parents to get their kids vaccinated.
For one San Antonio dad, he believes his son got COVID from daycare six months ago.
“He was just suffering, he couldn’t breathe right, he was coughing all night, he had a fever. We could alternate ibuprofen and Tylenol but outside of that there’s nothing else you can give to under a 2-year-old, it lasted for probably a week,” he said.
After that experience, he says that's why he and his wife decided to get their child vaccinated.
Even if your child had COVID-19, Dr. Jason Bowling, hospital epidemiologist at University Health says having an extra defense against COVID is good.
“Vaccine-induced immunity probably lasts a little bit longer, and so that’s one reason to do it. Another reason to do that is it’s still possible to get infected a second time and have a more severe course of illness than you did the first time,” Dr. Bowling said.
Dr. Bowling says although children overall tend to have less severe illness, they can expose other family members to COVID-19.
University Health says they are hoping to receive its shipments of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children in the next couple of days.
While this dad feels confident in his decision, a CDC survey says only one-fifth of parents surveyed would get their child aged six months to four years old vaccinated within 3 months of becoming eligible.
"People worry about a vaccine, but we don't know the effects of the virus 20 years from now," the dad said.
You can check out the CDC website for more information about the vaccine for kids.